It's personal: Learning spaces, learning webs.

It's personal: Learning spaces, learning webs.
Dr. Steve Wheeler, Faculty of Education at the University of Plymouth.
North Wing Conference Room (NB Not usual Council room venue)

1PM Thursday October 15th.

Personal Learning Environments and learning webs are part of the new wave of technology assisted learning, moving online learning into new spaces beyond simply reproducing offline learning on the web. Dr wheeler is at the forefront is this research, and will be briefing us on this development, and emerging trends in the field.

Dr. Steve Wheeler is a noted eLearning researcher, and serves on the editorial boards of eight international journals, including ALT-J, Digital Culture and Education, and IRRODL and is co-editor of Interactive Learning Environments. he is the chair of the UNESCO funded IFIP WG 3.6 (Distance Education) and a Fellow of the European Distance and E-learning Network (EDEN). His research interests include e-learning, distance education, creativity and Web 2.0 social software.
http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.com/

Applications open for Undergraduate Research funding.

Applications for funding for projects that support engaging undergraduates in meaningful research are now open.

Financial support will be given to departments/schools/centres for projects that help undergraduates to develop research skills. The aim is to help build undergraduates’ capacity to carry out authentic research, and smooth the transition to postgraduate studies, the workplace and active citizenship.  

Research studies have shown that undergraduate students like to hear about their teachers’ research, but when given the choice, they prefer to be involved in that research. Embedding authentic research into the undergraduate curriculum is seen as desirable from first year through to fourth year.

Some degree programmes already provide their undergraduate students with the opportunity to carry out authentic research. For other programmes, a small grant may help to develop an undergraduate research culture. Ideas such as undergraduate research journals, field surveys, equipment for data collection and analysis, etc will be considered. The money could also be used to enable undergraduate students to present research findings at a conference, for example.

Proposals should be submitted by the Head of Department/School/Centre on behalf of the whole Department/School/Centre

The proposal should include:

• A plan of action to embed research into undergraduate curricula
• The amount of money sought
• A clear statement outlining how the money will be spent
• Expected outputs, outcomes and impact and information on how these will be evaluated.
• A plan for ensuring the embedded research becomes sustainable beyond the current academic year.
   

Departments who can demonstrate that they meet some or all of the following criteria will be looked upon favourably.

• The department/school/centre has a carefully thought out teaching and learning strategy.
• Building research skills in undergraduate curricula forms part of the departmental strategy
• Programme learning outcomes explicitly refer to research skills 
• The assessment strategy encourages the development of research skills
   

Due to financial restrictions grants will have to be spent in the current year (that is by December 31st 2009). Therefore the proposal will have to demonstrate that this is possible. There is no stipulation on the amounts that can be awarded. However, Ionad Bairre is keen to see a wide range of projects funded and will look favourably on projects that represent excellent value for money. Projects which have students as collaborators will also be looked upon favourably. A form to guide your proposal is available below.

Reporting back: One condition of the grant is that examples of student work, submitted as evidence of the impact of the project, together with a short report, will be forwarded to Ionad Bairre in due course. Innovative reports will be published by NAIRTL.

Completed application form should be typed and submitted to ngriffin@pres.ucc.ie on or before Wednesday 14th October. For other enquiries, contact Dr. Bettie Higgs b.higgs@ucc.ie